Evening Brief: September 26, 2013

Tonight’s Evening Brief is brought to you by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. The Canadian Chamber of Commerce is Canada’s most influential business association with more than 450 Chambers of Commerce and Boards of Trade across the country, representing more than 200,000 businesses. The Chamber is holding its annual general meeting in Kelowna, B.C. between September 28-30.

Evening.

Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro has been charged with four counts of violating the Canada Elections Act in connection with his 2008 campaign. Also charged is his official agent, Richard McCarthy. More here.

Stephen Harper says he won’t take ‘no’ for an answer — even from Barack Obama. Harper was addressing the prospects for Keystone XL, the pipeline still awaiting approval from the U.S. president. Harper’s words, delivered in New York at a Canadian American Business Council forum, are sure to perk up ears in Washington.

The byelections beat is starting to warm up. NDP leader Tom Mulcair was in Montreal today to get newly-nominated candidate Stéphane Moraille’s campaign off on the right foot. How long will that campaign be? With no date for the vote, only Harper knows.

Meanwhile, the Liberals are pulling in an ag sector heavyweight as they look to snag Vic Toews’ old seat in Manitoba.

And at a campus near you … the Liberal party is wooing the youth vote by touting its push to legalize marijuana. The campaign’s centrepiece is a poster reading “GROW THE ECONOMY,” with a marijuana leaf superimposed on the party’s signature red and white lettering. The poster also cites a statistic that one third of Canadians want to legalize or decriminalize marijuana.

Finally, most politicians tend to regard a respectful, if cautious, relationship with members of the press as a positive thing … Some are less concerned.